Arena rock morphs

In the late 60s, bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin & The Who set the stage for massive live performances in stadiums and arenas around the globe. In the 70s, we saw artists like Boston, Styx, Foreigner, Journey, Queen, Peter Frampton & Genesis emerge -- who really defined the moniker "Arena Rock". These bands would sell-out the world's largest venues throughout most of that decade and beyond. There were three primary factors behind this phenomenon in my opinion. The first was that corporations saw the opportunity to make huge profits by selling out enormous stadiums & they starting underwriting the tours of these bands in that era, changing the face of rock forever in that context. Secondly, there was a certain style of rock music that lent itself to these types of crowds; more pop, still rock but more melodic, songs people wanted to sing along with (and did); songs that were played constantly on the radio. And thirdly, a whole generation grew up with this kind of concert environment (from shows like "The Who Live at Leeds" to "Day on the Green" multi-band marathons). We became accustomed to it.

Fast forward three decades, and we find many of these artists still touring, in fine form, and sounding great. Of course their audience has aged right alongside of them. So many of these artists are now playing in more intimate venues (1500-2000 capacity), and their fans are still singing along -- the words of each song forever etched in the collective DNA of a generation (it doesn't hurt that many of these artists and their hits are still played on many Classic Rock stations; so they never really went away). Case in point, I'm going to see Foreigner perform later this week -- at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga; I'll see Styx at the same venue later in August. I can predict the average age of the audience members at both shows (45-50), and I guarantee we'll be singing along with all the songs & having the time of our lives. (And holding our cell phones open during the slow ballads; the modern interpretation of the Bic lighter).